I tried so hard to germinate some of these indoors last spring. Did everything listed here and I just could not get the seeds to sprout. Finally at the end of May, I scattered the remainder in a half barrel full of soil that was sitting unused.
Go figure, after about a month of being completely ignored, they came up and grew like wildfire. I even transplanted the bigger plants into the garden last fall. I'll definitely go with the benign neglect germination process again next year!

I had heard that lavender is hard to germinate -- but these seeds were easy. I soaked about 40 seeds for five or six days in warm water with one very small drop of Superthrive in it, then planted them in concentric circles in a large pot in a sunny spot. Today, one week later, tiny lavender leaves are popping out of the soil! I'm delighted -- will update when they bloom.

I cold stratified these seeds last year and had excellent germination. The plants grew to 6" inches or more since they were seeded in March. I'm very happy with this lavender plant and will probably seed more this year.